floatern.
/ˈfləʊtə/, U.S. /ˈfloʊdər/ One who or that which floats.
1. (a)1890 J. A. Riis How Other Half Lives xix. 230 ‘Floaters’ come ashore every now and then with pockets turned inside out.1897 Let., Washington University, St. Louis in O.E.D. Suppl. (1933) at Floater. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 28 July 8/1 Bodies found in the water, which are known at the [New York] Morgue as ‘floaters’.1963 J. Mitford Amer. Way of Death iii. 53 Floaters..are another matter; a person who has been in the Bay for a week or more..will decompose more rapidly.(b)1897 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 9/2 There are bournes from which no ball, not e'en a floater, returns.1927 Daily Express 29 Sept. 9 Many leading American professionals ask that the ‘floater’ be adopted as the official standard ball.(c)1898 Geogr. Jrnl. (Royal Geogr. Soc.) 12 527 Several ‘floaters’, or receptacles for messages, had been thrown overboard before reaching the neighbourhood of Cape Farewell.(d)1916 ‘Taffrail’ Carry On! 54 Almost every day ‘floaters’, which have broken adrift from their moorings, are solemnly sunk by rifle fire.(e)1921 Chambers's Jrnl. 508/1 The molybdenite-seeker next proceeds to work in earnest by breaking all the loose ‘floaters’ or detached boulders, and collecting all the flakes that are set free in bags.1928 Sunday Disp. 25 Nov. 3/5 The chance discovery..of a large ‘floater’, or piece of gold-bearing quartz.1950 K. S. Prichard Winged Seeds 21 But I reckon the lode these floaters came down from 's not far off.(f)1933 Punch 25 Oct. 456/1 A ‘floater’ is an old magazine, book ‘or even a newspaper’ which is smuggled irregularly from cell to cell.1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights 97 It's [sc. a book] a floater so you can sling it if you think you are going to get a turn over.
a. In intransitive senses of the verb. spec. (a) a dead body found floating in water (U.S. slang); (b) a golf-ball capable of floating on water; (c) a cask, buoy, or bottle containing a message, thrown into the sea and left to float; (d) a mine adrift; (e) a piece of float-ore; (f) (see quot. 1933) (Prison slang).
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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > piece or lump of ore
gold stone1626
pee1678
floater1717
stone of tin1778
knit1881
the world > life > the body > dead body > [noun] > drowned
floater1717
bloat1860
wash-upa1903
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving with current of air or water > movement in or on water > [noun] > moving freely on surface > that which or one who
gourd1538
natation1542
floater1717
gourd1774
floatable1864
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > equipment > [noun] > ball > types of
floater1717
gutta1857
feathery1881
gutty1881
putty1881
feather ball1893
repaint1917
1717 L. Eusden in J. Dryden et al. tr. Ovid Metamorphoses iv. 126 Pity the Floaters on th' Ionian Seas.
1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 30 15 Halcyons all, fair floaters hung in the sunshine on waveless seas.
1882 R. Payne-Gallwey Fowler in Ireland 27 They [sc. ducks] get no chance of quiet from the floaters.
1885 H. Stopes Malt & Malting xi. 133 The proportion of floaters [= ‘floating corns’] depends partly upon the quality of the grain.
b. In transitive senses of the verb.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > irrigation > [noun] > worker
waterer1543
water-worker1579
waterman1615
floater1785
irrigator1829
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > promoter of joint-stock company
promoter1844
floater1868
co-promoter1884
the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > transport of logs > one who
rafter1741
driver1825
river-driver1825
rear crew1851
loadera1862
skidder1870
floater1889
river hog1902
river rat1905
boom-man1908
river pig1908
rearing crew1944
1785 Ann. Reg. 1783 Useful Projects 97/1 I consulted my meadow floaters.
1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead II. ii. iii. 122 Directors of banks, and the ‘floaters’ of ‘concerns’.
1889 Harper's Mag. Feb. 432/2 The ‘floater’ has to wade out in the water..to cut loose with his axe the logs which have stuck fast.
2. In various technical uses.
a. The floating diaphragm in Papin's steam-engine.
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1824 ‘R. Stuart’ Descr. Hist. Steam Engine 52 Elevating the piston or floater.
b. (See quot. 1857).
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1857 J. P. Nichol Cycl. Physical Sci. Floater, a contrivance indicating the height of level of a fluid in a vessel, whose depth we cannot at the time directly examine.
c. = float n. 14.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > cart or wagon for conveying goods > [noun] > types of > low or without sides
roll-wainc1503
dray1581
troll1663
dray-cart1710
rulley1759
truck1774
trolley1823
gambo1836
lorry1838
platform car1843
platform wagon1850
trolley-cart1865
float1866
wherry?1881
camion1885
rolley1886
floater1888
sloven1889
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Floater, a cart having the axle ‘cranked down’ so that though the wheels are high the body is very near the ground.
d. Stereotyping. = floating plate n.
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1882 J. Southward Pract. Printing 566 The ‘floater’, a plate of metal fitting on the inside of the ‘dipping pan’.
e. A tanning vat.
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1897 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 403 The skins are handled daily..for a month in ‘floaters’ in liquor of about 20 degrees.
3.
a. Stock Market. A government stock certificate, a railway-bond, etc. accepted as a recognized security.
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society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > stock > types of
joint stock1615
fancya1652
water stock1675
Bank stock1694
India stock1702
government stock1734
inscription1800
gas stock1820
railway stock1836
common stock1852
floater1871
blue chip1874
trunks1892
traction1896
omnium1902
mummy1903
motors1908
rollover1947
blue-chipper1953
red chip1968
large-cap1982
small cap1984
1871 Temple Bar Feb. 320 Floaters are exchequer bills and similar unfunded stock.
1883 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 May 5/1 The chief use of floaters is..as a means by which banks..can raise money in the general market when they are short of funds..To describe exactly what a floater is..would be a matter of some difficulty. Some..affect to consider that a Government bond to bearer, provided the Government be not in default, may be tendered as a floater; others draw the line at United States bonds.
b. Insurance. A policy in general terms, esp. covering portable goods. (Cf. floating adj. 5b.)
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society > trade and finance > financial dealings > insurance > [noun] > insurance policy > specific types of policy
fire policy1737
valued policy1737
life policy1751
wagering policy1766
wager policy1766
time policy1808
wager-insurance1824
voyage policy1848
ppi1895
floater1900
maintenance contract1915
death futures1993
1900 Policy-holder 6 June 441/2 The Norwich Union is largely interested..by specific amounts and by floaters... Messrs. John McNairn and Co. had a £20,000 floater from the North British.
4. Originally U.S.
a. A voter who has not attached himself to any political party, originally one whose vote may be purchased. In later U.K. use, without any suggestion of corrupt practice.
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society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > one who has right to vote > open to bribery
floater1847
float1885
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > one who has right to vote
elector1467
votera1600
constituent1714
balloter1733
vote1737
franchiser1843
floater1896
1847 Knickerbocker 29 329 Early the next morning the ‘floaters’ were marched in single file with votes in hand, to the ballot box.
1883 H. George in N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 203 ‘How many of them floaters?’—i.e. merchantable voters—continued the candidate. ‘Four hundred’ was again the answer.
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Nov. 7/2 Expressions indicating the intention to buy the Indiana ‘floaters’.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 22 Feb. 5/2 The ‘floaters’ should be mostly credited to Mr. Morley. Many people at Montrose believe he is certain to have a majority of 1,500.
1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 14 Those ‘floaters’ had to keep the ballot in full view.
1959 Spectator 25 Sept. 394/1 I find it hard to believe that many floaters were impressed by the Conservatives' first TV broadcast.
1963 Punch 6 Feb. 194/1 A charming Tory supporter..may well sway incalculable numbers of ‘floaters’ when polling day comes.
b. One who is perpetually changing his place of abode; a vagrant. Also, one who frequently changes his job; a temporary employee.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > wanderer > one given to wandering
starter1578
groyl1582
rolling stone1598
floater1859
butterfly1876
roll-about1893
drifter1908
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [noun] > casual or temporary worker
temporary1846
casual1851
occasional1867
migrant labourer1899
floater1909
guest worker1927
temp1932
gig worker2009
1859 T. S. Woodward Reminisc. (1939) 49 He was a floater..but he located him a tract in the fork of Coosa and Tallapoosa.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxiii. 455 There are clerks, agents..and perhaps fifty ‘floaters’, making up the American population.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds iii. 45 A man..failed, lost hope, and sank into a ‘floater’.
1883 W. H. Bishop in Harper's Mag. Oct. 718/2 They are irresponsible floaters.
1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Floater, one who takes temporary employment; specif., a substitute teacher. U.S.
1923 J. D. Hackett in Managem. Engin. May Floater, a person who habitually leaves one occupation and goes to another for the sake of variety.
1927 W. T. Root in C. Johnson Negro in Amer. Civ. (1931) 321 The larger number of unmarried ‘floaters’ drifting into the city.
1931 G. Irwin Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 76 Floater, a migratory worker, one who moves from place to place, but who has some excuse for this in that he works occasionally.
1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route i. 15 The hobo really floats, which explains the name ‘floater’, by which he is often labelled.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 11 Jan. 1/5 He denied that the order marked the establishment of a policy designed to prevent the employment of transient or ‘floater’ labor.
1967 L. Deighton Expensive Place xv. 104 ‘The murdered girl was working for us’..‘A floater?’..‘No. Permanent.’
1969 Daily Tel. 24 Oct. 16/5 There are only a score of vacancies to be filled, and these are of no interest to a number of young ‘floaters’ in and out of jobs as delivery boys, petrol pump attendants, car washers.
1971 H. C. Rae Marksman ii. vi. 149 [He's a] Detective Inspector; a floater, I think they call it. He circulates from department to department.
c. In the southern U.S.: a representative of several counties grouped together, and therefore not directly responsible to any one of them.
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1853 Texas State Gaz. 16 July (Farmer) A candidate for floater in the district composed of the counties of Fayette, Bastrop, and Travis.
d. An official order to leave a town or district; a sentence suspended on condition that the offender leaves the area. U.S. slang.
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society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > judging > sentencing > [noun] > sentence > suspended sentence > type of
floater1914
1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 34 Floater... A suspended sentence; a mandatory order to quit a community or locality. Example: ‘The rap wasn't strong enough, so they took a floater.’
1926 J. Black You can't Win vi. 69 I was just after gettin' a six months' floater out of Denver.
1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden 334 There's a permanent order in the Sheriff's office..that if I..admit I'm your wife I'll get a floater out of the county and out of the state.
5. A mistake, ‘bloomer’. slang.
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the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > a bungle
miscarriage1590
bungle1656
bumble1823
boggle1834
muff1867
car wreck1877
mismove1877
miscue1882
muddle1884
bobble1887
mess-up1902
floater1913
bollock1919
fluff1928
balls-up1929
muck-up1930
balls1938
snafu1943
foul-up1944
fuck-up1949
clusterfuck1969
car crash1992
dumpster fire2008
omnishambles2009
1913 A. Lunn Harrovians iv. 78 There is no phrase for a faux pas at Harrow... It is only when he reaches the university that he realizes that such banter is often a ‘floater’, and for this handy expression he has no parallel in school slang.
1925 A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves i. i. 8 What she called, in her jovial undergraduatish moments, a ‘floater’.
1929 Wodehouse in H. Cotton Legion Bk. 110 It's just when our intentions are best that we always make the most poisonous floaters.
1938 E. Waugh Scoop i. ii. 33 Have a cigarette or—had he made a floater?—or do you prefer your churchwarden?
1967 A. Wilson No Laughing Matter iii. 312 I've as good as said that we don't want your money... Just the sort of floater I would make, babbling on.
Draft additions December 2016
Surfing. A manoeuvre in which a surfer rides or floats over the whitewash of a breaking wave in the path of his or her ride, esp. so as to reach the open face of the wave again.
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1986 Australia's Surfing Life Nov. 63 In the Open final..Ross Clarke-Jones did a great floater, teetering just on the edge of control.
1996 D. Werner Longboarder's Start-up i. 24 Boards designed for vertical surfing (off-the-lips, floaters, etc.) have heavily rockered tails for quick turns as well as lifted noses to prevent pearling.
2006 Carve Sept. (Surfgirl Mag. Suppl.) 50/2 Tass, the youngest surfer, had loads of down-the-line speed, which is great if you want to do a floater or hit the last section.
Draft additions December 2005
A moving spot, thread, etc., which appears in the field of vision, caused by a region of inhomogeneity in the vitreous humour of the eye. Cf. muscae volitantes n.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > specks or sparks before eye
stars1598
synchysis1684
muscae volitantes1715
spot1785
phosphene1852
muscae1856
sparkling synchisis1859
spark1899
floater1902
1902 Lancet 26 Apr. 1176/1 ‘Floaters’ were present in the vitreous humour of each eye.
1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) 257 Degenerative changes also occur in the vitreous which turns fluid with a breakdown of its colloid structure so that dusty opacities or large membrane-like ‘floaters’ are formed.
1986 D. Shields Dead Lang. (1990) xxviii. 223 The moon hung above us like a floater in the eye.
2000 Independent 5 Oct. ii. 9/1 Floaters are caused by tiny clumps or strands of vitreous that cast a shadow on the retina at the back of the eye.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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